Drawing on interviews we explore the centrality of belonging to rural places, embedded within time, in shaping life as a male reader, regardless of country of origin, or generation. Place theory explored the assemblages of spaces important for 6 boys (10–11 year-olds) from Australia and 6 men (25 year-olds and 60 year-olds) from Sweden in their reader identities. Findings illustrate how assemblages of geography, resourcing, relationships with the land, and desires to connect to broader cultural affinity spaces become ingrained for males in rural places and distinguish them from working class males in metropolitan contexts. Classroom experiences related to ‘academic reading’ became embodied in non-reader identities and shaped life as a reader through the lifespan, while peer group cultures and connections to place offered alternative spaces to engage with reading a range of texts related to cultural life worlds with a shared sense of meaning, purpose, and value.